


Been Enragin' the Folks on the Lower Floor

by Runningfortocome



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Minor Angst, Music, Romance, Slow Burn, there will be smut at the end
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-05-30 20:33:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19410886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runningfortocome/pseuds/Runningfortocome
Summary: Roger is about to quit his job in the college cafe when he falls head over heels for a cute student who keeps coming in during his shifts. When the young man joins his band as the new bassist, Roger falls more deeply in love as he gets to know John Deacon and Queen's popularity begins to skyrocket.Modern AU, because I hadn't seen a coffeshop au for joger and figured I needed to write one. Tags will be updated as this continues





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic in the Queen fandom but I've been reading fics in the fandom for months now. I have the first two chapters written out, and I'll publish the second one in a few days. Please let me know if you like it or hate it or have any questions. You can talk to me at runningfortocome on tumblr. Hope you enjoy!

Roger had been wiping up a spill on the counter for the last five minutes when Tim poked him.

“Earth to Roger, earth to Roger, you can go home now, your shift is done,” Tim said, expecting Roger to leap up at the chance to leave.

“Are you sure you don’t need me for a little longer? I can stay a few more hours,” Roger said, continuing to wipe up the non-existent spill as he started out into the seating area of the small campus cafe he worked in. Tim followed his gaze to find a young man sitting at a table, working on a laptop, seemingly lost in whatever he was listening to on his headphones.

“You realize that staring at him doesn’t do you any good, right?” Tim teased, “Besides, don’t you have band practice tonight?”

“Yeah yeah yeah,” muttered Roger distractedly, “still not a crime to look. And why don’t you just come back to the band, this new bloke Richard, he doesn’t even bother to tune his bass and can’t keep time for shit.” Roger turned back to face Tim, a pleading look on his face.

“Nice try, those puppy dog eyes don’t work on me Taylor. Now scram, you were supposed to be gone twenty minutes ago and you know they aren’t going to pay you for the extra time.” Tim retorted.

“Fine. But I call this shift again next week.” Roger took off his apron and grabbed his backpack, sparing one last longing glance over at the brunette he’d been enraptured with for the last few weeks.

* * *

“Freddie, I’ve fallen in love” the blond man sighed dramatically, collapsing onto a sagging sofa with all the grace of a felled tree.

“Again? This has to be the third time this month dear.” Freddie responded from the kitchen table where he was ostensibly doing homework, though this was suspect considering the presence of the cat atop the scattered papers. “Who is it this time, one of your rotating crew of Roger’s Regular Shags? I hope it’s not Peter, I’ve been wanting a go at him after those noises he got out of you last time he was here,”

“You were listening? You perv.”

“Not on purpose darling! You know as well as I do that the walls are thin, I’ve heard you fucking six ways to Sunday,” Freddie pointed out.

“You don’t have to listen, you could leave, or put on music or something.” Roger said defensively.

“I refuse to be sexiled from my own flat, and besides, sometimes you don’t even make it into your room, it’s hardly my fault if I walk in and see you on the couch, balls deep in - “

“That was one time Fred! And I apologized already!” Roger interrupted.

“And I never got a second date with Martin, do you know how much I was looking forward to that dick?” retorted Freddie, looking wistful. They were both silent for a moment, thinking .

“This may be why we can’t convince Brian to move into the third bedroom,” Roger said thoughtfully.

“Nonsense dear, there has to be another reason. Besides, I recently got him to admit that we wouldn’t be the worst possible flatmates.” Freddie gave up pretending to do homework and stood from the table,“Tell you what blondie, let me make a cup of tea and you can tell me all about the new love of your life.”

“He comes in every day to the shop, he always gets a cinnamon latte and he’s got an adorable face. I think he must do engineering or math because his papers are always full of numbers and he must be smart. But he has long hair and the cutest crinkly eyed smile. And his laugh makes my heart floaty and he’s got this adorable pert arse-” Roger began to ramble on with a dreamy look on his face.

“Have you talked to this boy? Or have you just thirsted over him during work shifts?” Freddie asked pointedly as he walked over and sat down on the couch next to Roger, beckoning to the cat still sitting on the table, “Ziggy, come over here my beautiful boy”

“Yes…” Roger said with some hesitation.

“About more than his coffee order?” The cat stood up and stretched out at the sound of Freddie’s voice, spreading the papers out even more.

“Well no,” Roger admitted as the cat jumped off the table.

“Have you considered talking to him?” Freddie reached out to stroke the cat who had jumped into his lap and began purring contentedly.

“I look at him and my mind goes blank, okay? He’s too cute to stand.” Roger said defensively, the cat twitching at his tone of voice.

“Wow, I never thought I’d see the day Roger Taylor would be intimidated by someone. You simply must take a photo so I can see how cute he is,” Gushed Freddie, winking at a confused Roger who blinked back at him.

“Wouldn’t that be creepy?”

“Oh yeah, perhaps I’ll have to come in during your shift and you can point him out to me, I’ll try to help things along for you,” Freddie suggested slyly.

“Don’t you dare! Last time you tried to help I ended up tied to a chair, naked and covered in shaving cream, you are never allowed to help again” Roger cried, leaping from the couch in an effort to dissuade Freddie from even considering this idea.

“Well ask him out then.”

“No, it would be creepy, he doesn’t know me, I’m just the barista who can’t stop staring at him and has made a foam heart on his latte every time.” Roger sunk back on the couch and moaned, putting his head in his hands.

“You have it bad darling.” Freddie laughed, as Roger slumped to the floor, the cat using his head as a step as it lept away, peeved to not be the center of attention. “But I’m sure in a week you’ll be over it as usual. So let's talk about the show this weekend, did we remember to tweet out about it?”

“I don’t know, Brian’s in charge of all our social media stuff, he’s the one who made the Queen instagram and facebook and twitter and youtube and Tinder, remind me why we have a tinder again?” Roger looked a little brighter now that he was talking about something other than his misery.

“We don’t have a tinder, Brian just told you that so you wouldn’t ask him why he has the tinder app on his phone,” Freddie said, starting to comb through Roger’s hair in the absence of the cat, as he was still sitting on the floor in front of the couch. “Anyway, we have rehearsal in an hour, hey, maybe you could invite John to one of our gigs! Or just put up a flyer at the shop and next time he comes in you can tell him you play in the band, that could work!” Roger was doubtful and decided to change the conversation before Freddie got any more ideas about helping.

* * *

  
“Hey Brian! Roger’s in love again!” Freddie called out to the long legged guitarist who was strumming idly on his red guitar, somehow alone in the rehearsal room despite Roger and Freddie being more than a few minutes late. Before Brian could respond Roger burst out in an accusatory tone.

“Why didn’t you just tell me you downloaded tinder for yourself? I wasn’t going to judge you.” Roger began setting up the drums correctly, as whoever last used the rehearsal room kit clearly knew nothing about drums. Rogers own drums were currently packed up in the van, in preparation for their pub gig that weekend. _Maybe I should invite John to the show, and he’ll like it and afterwards he’ll come over and give me a smile_ and Roger’s thoughts continued drifting.

Meanwhile Brian’s eyes widened and he glared over at Freddie who shrugged and mouthed sorry.

“Erm, I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Brian lied unconvincingly, flushing red. Roger had been hounding him for years to _get laid like the rest of us Brian, It’ll make you so much less uptight_ and he didn’t want to admit he was taking the rash drummers advice.

Before Roger could start asking further questions or continue fantasizing about the cute boy who currently occupied far too much of his brain space, the door opened as the bassist, Richard, walked in.

“Where have you been?” asked Freddie, as Roger moved to sit behind his drum kit and Brian turned on the amp.

“With some bird, don’t get grumpy, I’m here now aren’t I?” The bassist retorted, taking out his instrument and plugging it in with the cord Brian offered him.

“Are you going to tune before we start or?” Brian looked concerned.

“Nah, why bother? Let’s just get going with this,” Richard said, picking an out of tune riff that made the rest of the boys wince. Behind the drum kit Roger began shifting into a well practiced mindset where he focused on the music and only the music, not the tardiness of Richard or the memory of John’s smile earlier that day. And with that practice started in earnest for the members of Queen.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I know it's been a hot moment, here is chapter two. We have some actual Joger interaction. Let me know if you like it. Thank you for the comments and kudos, I really appreciate it. Enjoy!

John Deacon was really regretting signing up for a 0730 lab class. The second year engineering student ran out of his flat with fifteen minutes to make it to class, in dire need of caffeine. The bee-gees blasting out of his headphones, he glanced at his watch as he passed the campus coffee shop.  _ Eight minutes to go, I have time  _ he thought to himself, knowing his classroom was in the next building. John opened the door and fortunately seeing no line, headed straight up to the blond man at the counter.

“Please, I just need something with caffeine in it,” he panted, resting against the counter as he tried to catch his breath. The blond’s impossibly blue eyes widened and he quickly turned around, filling up a cup.

“Here, cup of our strongest roast, that’ll be 3.75,” the blond, Roger, according to his nametag, said. John reached in his shoulder bag to grab his wallet but his fingers closed on nothing. John began to search frantically, finding his books, the circuit board he’d spent all night finishing, various papers, a lot of biscuit wrappers but no wallet. A hazy memory struck him, leaving his wallet on the bedside table so he wouldn’t forget it in the morning. Which may have worked well had he not fallen asleep at his desk rather than in his bed. 

“Shit shit shit shit, I left my wallet at home,” John cursed, feeling his face begin to heat up and the panic building in his chest. “I have class in three minutes and I can’t be late and I can’t fall asleep because we’re soldering and now I can’t pay for this cup of coffee and I’m going to fall asleep and burn down the whole building during class and crap, I’m fucked.” John was close to sobbing by this point, his night of no sleep and the general stress of university overwhelming him. He put down the cup of coffee, and started to turn away, ready to run out the door and head to his class without the much needed caffeine when the man at the counter spoke up.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay, lucky for you today is, uh, free cup of coffee for cute people who forgot their wallets and have class in three minutes day! So just take the cup, don’t fall asleep, relax, it’s going to be fine.” The blond tried to soothe a panicking John. 

“What? You don’t have to. That’s too nice,” John was shocked at the man’s kind attitude.

“Don’t worry about it, here take the cup.” Roger put a lid on the cup and placed it in John’s hands, wrapping both the engineering student’s shaking hands around the warm cup.

“Are you sure? I can come back and pay later, I can leave my ridiculously expensive textbook as collateral so you know I’ll come back,” John said, unable to believe his luck. Looking gratefully at the very attractive, as his mind so helpful supplied, very kind man behind the counter. 

“Seriously, it’s a gift, now get going, you don't want to be late to your class,” Roger said with a wink and grin. John raced out of the shop without a second thought, making it to his seat as the clock ticked over to 730, only realizing as he downed the last dregs of his coffee that the blond man had called him cute.

* * *

Roger surveyed the coffee shop, still feeling resentful that he was taking an early shift. Someone hadn’t shown up for the morning and his bossed had called and begged him to come in so here he was at 720 in the morning, tired and grumpy. He started as the bell over the door rang and a young man ran in, his long dark hair wild and a bleary panicked expression on his face.

“Please, I just need something with caffeine in it,” he panted and Roger realized this was John, his crush. He turned around and began pouring a cup of coffee for adorable boy.

“Here, cup of our strongest roast, that’ll be 3.75,” Roger said and the boy began searching through his bag, and Roger noticed his brows wrinkling in panic as the search became more frantic.

“Shit shit shit shit, I left my wallet at home,” the young man began to mutter. “I have class in three minutes and I can’t be late and I can’t fall asleep because we’re soldering and now I can’t pay for this cup of coffee and I’m going to fall asleep and burn down the whole building during class and crap, I’m fucked.” By this point John was clearly going into hysterics, his face flushing and he set the cup back down on the counter, turning to go away. Without thinking, Roger called out to him.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay, lucky for you today is uh,” Roger was searching for some way to help the boy out, “free cup of coffee for cute people who forgot their wallets and have class in three minutes day! So just take the cup, don’t fall asleep, relax, it’s going to be fine.” Roger couldn’t believe he’d said that. But at the look of disbelieving relief on the boys face, he knew he couldn’t take it back.

“What? You don’t have to. That’s too nice,” said John, surprise evident in his large grey eyes as he turned back to Roger.

“Don’t worry about it, here take the cup.” Roger couldn’t help himself from reaching out for John’s hands to wrap them around the warm cup, trying to reassure the younger man. 

“Are you sure? I can come back and pay later, I can leave my ridiculously expensive textbook as collateral so you know I’ll come back.” John offered, seemingly stunned.

“Seriously, it’s a gift, now get going, you don't want to be late to your class,” Roger gave him grin and wink, hoping he wasn’t pushing his luck, and John returned the smile briefly before turning around and running out the door, Roger’s eyes following his figure as John dashed off. 

_ He’s still so cute, oh my gosh,  _ Roger thought,  _ I can’t believe I called him cute though, he’s never going to come back here, but he smiled at me, I want to make him look flustered and red again, it was so beautiful, I wonder _ -

“Hey, hey I said I want vanilla bean latte, no whip, didn’t you hear me the first time?” Roger was lost in pleasant thoughts when an irate customer interrupted, all up in his face. With a sigh, Roger returned to the real world, leaving thoughts of John for another time.

* * *

“You realize you could have used this as an excuse to get his number, right?” Freddie said, several hours later after Roger told him the story. “You could have said, hey I’ll give you a free coffee if you go on a date with me.”

“Freddie! That would be creepy, again, trying to avoid that, also, he had to get to his class soon, I didn’t want to delay him.” Roger protested. They were in the rehearsal room, getting Roger’s drum kit set up while they waited for Brian and Richard to arrive.

“Fine, it might have been a bit sketchy,” Freddie admitted, “But you totally should have let him leave his textbook, then you’d have an excuse to talk to him again.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” 

“When do you think you’ll see him again? Why didn’t you stick around and see if he came back in after his class?” asked Freddie.

“Because, as you sent me fifteen texts reminding me, we had emergency practice this afternoon, and besides, I already worked the morning shift, I wasn’t about to take the afternoon one as well.”

At this point, Brian ran in, his hair looking curlier and crazier than usual. 

“Sorry about running late, had to run back to my flat to grab the old lady,” Brian was referring to his homemade guitar. 

“No worries, you’re here before Richard,” Freddie said, sitting himself down at the piano.

“That isn’t saying much Fred.” Brian said while getting his guitar out of the case. “Speaking of which, are we all that keen on Richard?”

“What do you mean Bri?” Roger called from behind his kit, idly tapping out a beat.

“He’s never on time, doesn’t seem to care about Queen, and honestly, I’m not sure he’s a good fit with the rest of the band.” Brian said.

“Wow Bri, don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel!” cackled Freddie, looking gleeful at Brian’s unusually callous words.

“I agree, but I don’t want to kick him out without having another bassist lined up, we have a couple gigs coming up over the next few weeks,” said Roger. 

“Let’s ask him to make more of an effort to be on time, okay? No need for drastic measures quite yet.” Freddie suggested. “And I think I hear him coming so let’s table this discussion for another time, okay?” 

With that Richard pushed through the door, carrying his case and puffing out apologies for his tardiness and practice began. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hope you liked it, Chapter three has a lot more going on, and I should have it uploaded by the end of the weekend. I can't wait for you all to read it! Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I was hanging out with family and decided to wait to write on my own. This chapter has a lot more Joger interaction and gets more of the real plot moving along. Thank you for your reviews and kudos. They mean a lot to me. I'm still trying to figure out how to reply to all of them, AO3 is being a bit glitchy but rest assured, I have read and appreciated all your kind words. Enjoy the chapter

Super Freak blasted out of John’s headphones as he headed towards the coffee shop. He’d just finished meeting up with his physics TA after class and he needed to do some work on his problem set. It had been a few days since the forgotten wallet incident and though he had ventured into the coffee shop several times in hopes of finding the blond man, Roger he remembered, he hadn’t had any luck thus far. John usually came to the cafe after his physics class and he was pretty sure he’d seen Roger working that time before. As he passed a window, John found himself unconsciously checking his reflection and fluffing his hair, recalling how Roger had called him cute. He stopped himself,  _ I don’t care, I’m not looking for a relationship right now, besides it was probably a joke  _ John thought to himself as he pushed open the door to the coffee shop. Roger was behind the counter, his back turned to the door as he worked on a drink for someone in line.

“Be with you in a moment,” he called back, clearly hearing the bell over the door ring. John stood behind the person at the register, shifting from foot to foot and fiddling with his headphones, not sure what to say after the girl in line paid for her drink and stepped aside. The blond man smiled and his bright blue eyes seemed to light up with recognition.

“Oh hey, did you make it to class on time the other day?” Roger asked him, clearly recognizing John. 

“Yeah, yes, I came in to say thank you again and offer to pay, you really helped me out,” said John. “I really really appreciate it. You saved my arse.”

“Hey, no problem, we’ve all been there mate.” Roger said, “Don’t worry about it, happy to help out someone as sweet as you. Now what can I get for you?”

“Seriously, thank you uh, Roger, are you sure I can’t pay you for it now?” John asked. 

“Just order a drink, so the person behind you doesn’t kill you, he seems to be in more dire need of caffeine than you were the other day,” another student who looked dead on his feet had come in and stood behind John without him even noticing.

“Oh, erm go ahead, I don’t know what I want yet,” John said, stepping aside for the other person.  _ Is he flirting with me? He can’t be, he’s probably just being nice, he has to be nice to customers  _ John wondered. 

“I guess I’ll have a cinnamon latte,” John told Roger. “Don’t worry, I can pay for it this time.” he smiled and handed over a tenner. 

“Okay, what’s your name?” at John’s confused look Roger continued, “So I can call you over when your drink is done.”

“Oh yes, I’m John, John Deacon,” John responded, giving Roger what he hoped was a cute smile. 

“Hello John, I’m Roger,”

“I knew that already.”

“Are you psychic or something?”

“No, you wear a name tag,” 

Roger laughed and looked down at his apron, “I suppose I do, of course, I could just put a random name on my nametag so I don’t have to tell people my real name,”

John raised an eyebrow at that remark. “Why would you do that?”

“Perhaps I’m MI6, undercover in this shop, watching out for Russian agents.”

“You’d be pretty shit as a secret spy.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You haven’t even noticed the coffee boiling over behind you,” 

“Oh bollocks,” Roger swore and turned around to see one of the machines making ominous burbling noises and venting steam. “Let me figure this out, I’ll get your drink sorted in a mo, just go wait.” Roger handed John back the change he’d been holding during their conversation and John put a few coins in the tip jar as he took his bag over to the stools at the other end of the counter. The machine was now spitting coffee grounds as Roger tried to fix it. Sensing there might be a bit of a wait, John took out his notebook and textbook and delved into his physics homework.

* * *

Roger couldn’t believe his bad luck. He was finally talking with John, who seemed just as sweet and fun as he’d hoped, and who was maybe flirting back at him, when the automated percolator decided to go bat shit crazy. Normally when he pushed the button the machine released a preset amount of beans from a hopper, ground them, poured them into a filter and then percolated coffee. All Roger had to do was refill the hopper occasionally, and remove the spent filter and grounds. But now rather than coffee dripping into the large urn, coffee grounds and hot water was spraying out, almost as if there were no filter. Roger frowned, he supposed one had to put new filters in the machine at some point but he had no memory of ever needing to do so. He pushed expiremently at one of the slots on the side and it opened to reveal a tray that clearly was for the paper filters.

_ Okay, this is an easy fix, I just put in new filters  _ Roger thought.  _ And then I dump this urn cause it clearly has grounds in it and make some new coffee. And wipe up all these grounds. And clean out the machine, which I should probably unplug in the meantime.  _ Roger set about this, making a show of flexing his arms and carrying the heavy coffee urn over to the sink, hoping John was watching him. He turned back to see John totally absorbed in his papers. Disappointed, he returned to his work. Moping everything up with paper towels and clearing the grounds out of the machine. It was messy work, and by the time he was finished, Roger was covered in coffee grounds and tiny red marks from the scalding water. But he still had to make John’s latte. Roger made it as perfectly as he could, finishing with a foam heart on top. Praying for no more interruptions of either the customer or mechanical type, he carefully took the cup and headed over to the adorable young man now scribbling frantically on his paper. 

“One cinnamon latte for John,” Roger called out quietly, not wanting to startle him. John did give a bit of a jump despite Roger’s best efforts and looked up, an expression of amusement on his face when he spotted Roger’s disheveled looks.

“Get into it with the coffee machine did you?” John said, taking the cup.

“Ah yes, I fought the fierce beast, she spit fire over me, but I was able to trick and subdue her and now she sleeps like a simple cat.” Roger reported, inclining his head to John as if he were a knight returning from battle to report to his lord. 

“Oh my brave knight, ye shall be rewarded for your valiant deeds,” John responded playing along.

“I need no reward, my lady, none but your smile upon me,” Roger made a mock bow to John, who was looking at him with a silly grin on his face, eyes crinkled. With his long wavy hair, Roger thought John looked pretty enough to be a sort of princess.

“What prize is my smile? We can do better than that for sure, hold but a moment my knight,” John ruffled through his bag, reappearing with a pad of sticky notes he scrawled something on the top one. “Come closer my knight, that I might pin this token of my affections upon your chest.”

Roger drew in a breath, he knew this was all play, but he couldn’t help but be thrilled at the idea of capturing Johns affection. He leaned forward over the counter and the brunette stuck the bright orange piece of paper to the top of his apron. He glanced down, cross eyed to see what the other man had written on the note, it was a heart with the words “my hero” printed beneath. Roger almost swooned,  _ John is so adorable  _ he thought.  _ And also so close, I could just lean a little more forward and capture those lips,  _ surprised at the idea, he almost jumped back, looking away from John’s grey-green eyes sheepishly. 

“Well thank you, I shouldn’t keep you from your work, that looks important,” Roger glanced at the paper covered in graphs and calculations. John looked back at him, a hint of playfulness in his tone.

“Ah yes, my very important physics homework, where I need to calculate the spin of particle that may or may not exist,” John grinned and raised his eyebrows.

“Can’t help you there mate, I know nothing about physics. I studied dentistry till I swapped to biology.” 

“Which uni are you at?”

“UEL. I assume you’re at King’s?”

“How’d you guess?”

“It’s on your lanyard, isn’t it?”

“Oh yeah” John replied, reaching to absently play with the lanyard around his neck.

“So, what does John Deacon do with his free time?” questioned Roger, deciding to take a leap.

“He builds things, listens to music, and rereads Lord of the Rings.” retorted John.

“Oh man, I love Lord of the Rings, what did you think of the Hobbit movies?” Roger asked. He was excited, Freddie and Brian never wanted to talk about lord of the rings with him.

“Honestly? Too much. They didn’t need all the extra plots and whatever” John shrugged. 

“Oh I agree, but I still totally saw all of them in the theaters.” 

“So did I, even dressed up.” John told him with a bit of a blush.

“Me too! I dragged my mates along, made one of them dress up as Thorin. I was Legolas and my other mate insisted on dressing up as Thranduil, made a pretty good costume to be honest.” Roger remembered Freddie ordering him and Brian to follow him around all evening, making sure no one stepped on his elaborate costume. John was about to respond when Roger saw someone approaching the register. 

“Hold that thought, I gotta help that person out, I’ll be back though,” He said and turned around. 

* * *

“-and we kept talking for like two hours, Fred, I’m pretty sure he’s my soulmate.” Roger finished, relating his story to Freddie as they rode the tube to band practice once again. 

“Did you talk about anything other than geek stuff?” Freddie questioned

“Yeah of course. We talked about everything,” Roger was so excited he was almost bouncing.

“Everything?”

“Well a lot of things, and honestly he’s so dreamy. I wanted to take a pic and show you but I couldn't figure out how to do it without him noticing.” Roger had such a silly sweet expression on his face that Freddie couldn’t help but poke fun at him. 

“Yeah, you probably don’t want to let him know you are a massive creep.”

“Fred!”

“Just joking love, just joking.”

* * *

“-honestly Ron, he’s really cute and we talked for ages. I think he might have been flirting.” John was saying on the phone

“I believe you, why wouldn’t he be? From what my gay ass can tell, you are pretty attractive,” Veronica, John’s oldest friend responded, teasing in her voice. “Go for it Deacs, ask him out or something, sounds like he’d say yes.”

“I don’t know, what if i’m being creepy. I mean he has to be nice to people, it’s part of his job,” John said.

“Yeah but this goes beyond just nice, he’s clearly into you.”

“Maybe, I don't know, I want to get to know him a little better first.” sighed John.

“What do you think dating is for?” 

“You know what I mean”

“So are you just going to keep going back and buying coffee and hoping he’ll be working?”

“Do I seem that pathetic to you?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll have you know, I learned he works Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, so I will be going in then, not just randomly and hoping to see him.”

“Ah, smart”

* * *

“Sorry boys, I’m out.” Richard said.

“What do you mean?” Roger asked, getting heated. They had just asked Richard to put in a bit more effort to be on time to rehearsal.

“I don’t really have that kind of time, and frankly, I don’t think this is going anywhere.” Richard said, shrugging. “I hope you guys do well and stuff but I’m out, was thinking about quitting anyway, this just confirms things.” and with that he picked up his bass and walked out of the rehearsal room. 

“That was not how I anticipated things going,” Freddie breathed out. They all were stunned. None of them expected things to go that badly. 

“You know, I think we now need to find a new bassist.” Roger posited, still in a tone of disbelief. 

“Wow darling, I think you might be right.” Freddie bit back, sarcastically, starting to feel more annoyed as it sunk in. “I guess we have to hold auditions again.”

Roger groaned, thinking of the last time they’d had to hold auditions. It had not been a fun process for anyone, it took forever, half the people couldn’t even play, and they’d ended up with Richard who clearly wasn’t any good.

“Maybe not, I know someone who plays bass who might be interested.” Brian interjected. 

“Ooo one of your nerd friends?” Roger teased, never missing the opportunity to make fun of his astrophysicist friend. 

“No, he’s one of the students in the physics class I TA for.” Brian retorted, looking irritated. 

“Well ask him dear, and if he’s interested have him come to practice next week. No use in us practicing without a bassist today or for the rest of the week.” Freddie cut in, eager to head off the beginning of another potentially epic Brian and Roger fight. 

“Okay. Do you fancy going for a drink now? Drown our miseries?” Brian asked

“Anywhere but the Fox Run, I still have a lifetime ban.” Roger said, looking cheered at the thought of drinks. 

“What did you do again?”

“It totally wasn’t my fault that time. How was I supposed to know her boyfriend was the manager there?”

“Oh Roger.”

The three friends set off, laughing and leaving behind concerns about finding a new bassist for another day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I don't quite know what happened here. The coffee machine breaking definitely wasn't in the original outline. and I have no idea where the medieval talk came from. But I wanted a fun flirty rapport and they seem to have one, even if I often have no clue where it's going next. Thanks for reading. Next chapter should be out by the end of the week. We have a new bassist (I bet you can't guess who), some epic flirting, and everyone gets drunk so it should be fun all around.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry it has been a while. I'm really not happy with this chapter but I needed to get something out. Idk. I've been traveling so I haven't had a lot of time. This is maybe the third version of this chapter and I'm still not sure I like it at all. Oh well. If there's anyone still following this fic I hope you enjoy it. Wait for the next chapter shouldn't be as long.

“Deacy! You are not going to believe this,”

“I’m sure I won’t believe any of it, but do tell Ronnie.” John Deacon was sitting in his room, ignoring the pile of papers on his desk in favor of talking to his friend on the phone. His hands idly toying with some wires and gears that may have once belonged to a model car kit.

“So remember that TA I told you I shagged? The one with the long hair and very talented fingers?”

“You know, it’s concerning that you have to specify which TA, I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to sleep with any of them.”

“Shut up, at least I’m getting some, how long has your dry spell been going?” Veronica’s remark, harsh though it was, had a point and John considered it.

“Fuck you,” was his measured response.

“No, we tried that and it didn’t work, don’t you remember?” retorted Veronica. John winced, he did remember, a drunken experiment in 6th form that had ended any remaining ideas he’d had about being attracted to girls, though fortunately not their friendship.

“Yes, vividly.” 

“Anyway, so this bloke, turns out he has a girlfriend.”

“Not like you could date him anyway, he’s your TA”

“Not the point! It’s the principle of the thing, he cheated on her and as a feminist I can’t stand that,”

“So,” John had an idea where this was going but he hoped he was wrong, “what are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing too bad, I’m just going to write a poem about it for our next assignment, make it really obvious so she can tell, maybe I’ll put in something about the scar on his bum that looks like a map of Cardiff.”

“How’s that going to help? Will you send her the poem then? That's kind of a step too far, don’t you think?” John questioned.

“No need to send it to her, she’s the other TA for the class.” silence. John really hoped Veronica could somehow sense him rolling his eyes.

“And to think, you call yourself a Catholic.”

\--

“So she sent me the poem and you can read it for yourself, I almost feel bad for the guy.” John finished the story, handing his phone over to Roger so he could read. It was another slow afternoon in the cafe, and John had long since abandoned his homework in favor of talking to the amused barista. John watched as Roger scrolled on his phone, the blonde’s teeth coming out to lightly bite his full lower lip and his brow furrowed. With a wince, Roger came to the end and handed John’s phone back to him with a laugh, fingertips briefly brushing against one another.

“She was brutal. I liked the part where she talked about the bag of cheddar and onion crisps in the bed, really set the scene. And then when she compared them to the color of his, uh-” Roger trailed off.

“-Yeah you really don’t want to get on Ronnie’s bad side.” 

“No kidding,”

“Yeah, she’ll flay you alive, her tongue is sharp as a knife.”

“I could say the same about yours, I just heard you ranting about your TA not ten minutes ago.” pointed out Roger.

“The poodle headed freak deserved it. He canceled tutoring hours with only a few hour’s notice. Besides, I assure you, my tongue can be kinder.” John decided to add a bit of a flirty glance to this last remark, hoping he didn’t look silly.

“Oh, can it?” Roger leaned forward, seemingly eager. “I’d love to find out,” he waggled his eyebrows, blue eyes sparkling with mischief

“Oi, could you stop flirting? I want a coffee!” interrupted a voice from the register. Roger jumped and with a wink, turned around and headed to go help the irate customer. John watched him go, eyes lingering on Roger’s behind. He was pretty sure the blonde was flirting back at him. But he wasn’t convinced yet. 

\--

Roger watched as the cat crept forward, his back arching, slitted eyes fixed intensely on something in front of him. Paw after paw, Ziggy silently stalked his prey, getting closer and closer until

“OW! Why are you attacking me Ziggy? Get off! my hair! No biting, bad kitty, bad kitty.” Freddie shrieked, falling out of the downward dog pose he’d been carefully maintaining, trying untangle his hair from the cat’s claws. Roger almost fell off the sofa he was laughing so hard.

“He, he was going, he went after your, your scrunchie Fred.” Roger got out between laughs. “Maybe he thinks, maybe he thinks it’s too 80s,” giggled the blond man. 

Freddie looked at the cat, askance, “Ziggy, you dare question your father’s fashion sense? I can’t believe you, to think, I’ve raised you on my own.”

“Ah-hem.”

“Mostly on my own,” amended Freddie. “And you disrespect me like this? For shame Ziggy, for shame.”

“He’s right though, the scrunchie is a bit much.”

“Well, if someone wasn’t always losing the elastics I would be using one of those.”

“I swear, Brian has stolen most of them, I think if you combed through that mass of hair you’d get like 20. But we do need more, I had to put my hair up with a pencil today. I’ll pick up another pack at the shops next time we go.” Roger got up and added it to the list they kept on the fridge, the one that neither of them every remembered to bring when they did the shopping which was how they ended up with mostly alcohol and few vegetables. 

“Anyway, we should get going soon, we have to meet our new bassist.” Freddie rolled up his yoga mat.

“We don’t know if he’s going to be our new bassist, what if he doesn’t fit?”

“You mean what if he doesn’t want to be in a band with three outragous queens?”

“Something like that. Even in this day and age, not everyone is, chill.” Roger said, his voice soft and sad. 

“Roger, you know you can always talk about it, right?” ventured Freddie. Roger looked up and seemed to shake off a weight.

“Nah, old news mate. Besides, if this guy knows Brian he can’t be too shocked. I mean, the rainbow socks give it away.”

“And the rainbow scarf, and pins, and beanie.”

“He looks like a walking pride parade sometimes,”

“I think his strategy is to let everyone know, ‘I’m gay, please date me,’”

“And how’s that working out for him,” 

“Well when was the last time you saw him on a date?” Both men laughed.

\--

“Brian’s late for once,” noted Roger, lazily tapping out a rhythm on his kit..

“How rude of him, our new bassist is late too, this does not bode well,” Freddie was leaning against the piano, scrolling through his phone. “I’ll text Bri, see what’s keeping him,”

“Hi, sorry, we’re late. I ended up giving John a ride cause tutoring hours finished up late. John, this is Freddie and Roger,” Brian swept into the room, his hair even more wild than usual due to the October wind. Behind him came a younger man, with long wavy hair and grey green eyes. 

“Hi, I’m John Deacon,” John said, looking first at Freddie who leapt forward and began examining him, then glancing back to Roger. Roger who was gazing at him with wide blue eyes and a look of shock on his face.

“Hmm, John, we can think of a better name for you, that’s simply too boring. But you look okay, and with some makeup we can definitely get you a good stage look…” Freddie trailed off, finally noticing that John wasn’t paying any attention to him. His eyes seemed glued to Roger who was looking at him with the same intensity. 

“John!”

“Roger!” 

Both boys spoke at the same time, and this was enough to break the tension. Roger and John started laughing while Freddie and Brian looked on in confusion. 

“Wait this is John, from the cafe?” Freddie interjected, looking at the young man with new appreciation. Neither responded, continuing to laugh. 

“Do you two know each other?” asked Brian.

“John sometimes comes into the cafe.” Roger answered, “I had no idea that you played bass, John.”

“Really? I could have guessed you play drums.”

“How’s that?”

“You’re good at hitting on things,”

“Oh, you think I’m good?”

Freddie and Brian had been watching the exchange back and forth, surprised at how well the two younger men seemed to be connecting. Brian was the first to interrupt what seemed to be a heated staring contest. 

“John, can you play a bit for us? Just to hear what you sound like? We want to make sure you’ll fit okay with us.” John started at the sound of Brian’s voice, seeming like he’d forgotten there was anyone else in the room. 

“Oh yeah of course, let me just get my bass out.” John said, bending down to open the clasps on his case. Brian went to plug in the bass amp John had been carrying. While both their backs were turned Freddie turned to Roger and pointing to John, gave a thumbs up and mouthed  _ he’s cute  _ and Roger glared back, mouthing  _ mine! _

“Anything in particular you’d like me to play?” Roger was pretty sure John standing there, with his hip out and bass slung across his body was maybe the hottest thing he’d ever seen. 

“Oh something new darling, show us what you’ve got.” Freddie requested, looking on in interest. John began by playing a relatively simple bass line, then went straight into a complicated riff none of them had ever heard before. He was perfectly on time and Roger’s fingers itched to add the drums to his beat. He picked up his sticks and joined in, meshing seamlessly into the rhythm John had created. They continued, giving and taking, it felt as though they’d played together for ages and Roger had no idea how much time had passed when Freddie cleared his throat. 

“Well dears, you certainly sound good together. Roger, come on over here, John, could you go out in the hallway for a moment? We have to have a quick band discussion.” John put down his bass and head out the door. As soon as it had closed behind him Roger leapt up.

“Did you hear him? We have to let him in! He was excellent!”

“We can’t just let someone in the band because Roger fancies him.” Brian protested.

“Didn’t you hear him? Even if he wasn’t the cutest, sexiest bean I’ve ever seen”

“Sexy bean?”

“It’s a term of affection. Anway, even if I didn’t fancy him we should still have him join. That sounded better than anyone we’ve played with before.”

“Yes but-”

“You were the one who brought him in the first place, why do you have objections now?”

“Is he going to be a distraction to you, Rog?” Freddie prodded Roger, Brian looking like he agreed with the question. 

“Yeah, we don’t want to get messy. It feels like a bad idea to have people in the band dating or involved together in relationships, what if something goes wrong and he quits, or you quit?” Roger looked furious hearing this from Brian.

“That’s bull! It didn’t do anything when you two slept together, did it? I’m not going to just use him, I like him, really like him. I’m going to treat him proper. And it won’t affect the band.” Promised Roger. Freddie and Brian avoided looking at each other, the room growing awkward now that Roger had brought up That Which Was to be Forgotten. 

“Okay, fine. But be careful, will you? I don’t want to find another bassist and this one seems really good.”

“Let’s call him back in and show him some songs.”

\--

John was seated at a table in a bar that was far too hipster for his tastes, drinking some kind of artisanal beer. He was joined by a short, dark haired flamboyant man named Freddie, who he’d learned was a graphic designer, his tall, curly and perpetually rainbow wearing physics TA, and Roger, his beautiful sexy crush from the coffee shop. They were celebrating John joining Queen, his new band. The rest of practice had gone very well, with John picking up on most of the bass lines quickly and mixing well with the whole band. 

“I’ll go get another round, shall I?” asked Brian, standing up from the table. There was a general murmur of agreement with John muttering that he’d like something normal this time. 

“Nothing that’s supposed to taste like watermelon mate, that one wasn’t any good.” John slurred slightly, unsure what round of beers this would be. Brian nodded and headed off. Freddie jumped up. 

“I’m off to the loo. Back in a mo” Freddie darted off. Roger leaned in closer to John, and John shivered slightly, excited to be near the blonde. 

“Watch the wild Brian try to flirt.” They were both looking at Brian, who was approaching another man at the counter. 

“How can you tell he’s going to flirt?” 

“Cause I’ve seen this play out a few times, and also that guy is totally his type. Watch, it’s going to be fun.”

“He approaches his subject. And he’s doing a counter lean. Could this be it?” Roger began commentating as if watching a football match. John was amused. They looked on as Brian leaned in closer to talk to the man at the bar. “He’s shaking his hair out. Good move Bri. and there comes the blokes girlfriend.” Both boys winced as a glass of something was dumped over Brian’s head by a girl who looked less than pleased at coming back and seeing someone try to put the moves on her boyfriend. 

“Oh dear, he looks like a drowned poodle.”

“Let me know in advance of any drink bearing boyfriends or girlfriends so when I ask you out, I can bring an umbrella.” John wasn’t sure he’d heard Roger correctly. Had the older boy just said he planned on asking John out? 

“That isn’t going to be a problem. But that also better not be you asking me out.” John said. A bit of an edge in his tone. Before Roger could respond, Brian was back at the table, shaking his head out. 

“I think I’m just going to stay single forever.” Brian groaned, looking morose. Roger laughed and patted his back. 

“Never hit on someone if you don’t know they are single. What made you decide to do that in the first place?” Roger tried to reassure Brian.

“Why’s Brian all wet?” Freddie had appeared, “Did he try to ask someone out again?” 

“This has happened before?” John had no idea how Freddie had come to the correct conclusion so fast.

“You know what, I think the evening is done for. Let’s meet up on Tuesday, at the same time, for the next practice. Roger, get Johns number so we can add him to the group message.” Freddie directed, putting a napkin on a downtrodden Brian’s hair and beginning to lead him out of the bar.

“Uh, here,” Roger handed John his phone. “I guess I’ll text you so you have mine.” The blond man seemed put out after John’s last remark toward him about not asking him out. John typed his name in, adding a coffee and guitar emoji. In the notes section he added: Sexy AF. John handed the phone back to Roger and watched the other boy walk off. 

“Oh Roger?” He called, unable to help himself. Roger turned around and looked hopeful. “If you want to avoid getting anything dumped over your head, try a different way of asking, I might say yes.” 

Enjoying the shocked look on Roger’s face. John brushed past him and took off into the chilly October night, feeling warm and excited inside. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. Well, things are moving from here. We'll get the first concert in the next chapter, as well as Roger coming up with new ideas on how to ask John out on a date. Also I have no idea how I have two separate incidents where friends slept together and it didn't work out. That totally wasn't planned. I wrote half of this chapter in one sitting and then the second half of the chapter was where I had the problems. Also sorry Brian. I don't know why I'm being mean to him.   
> Let me know if you enjoyed. Love hearing from you and I hope the wait won't be as long next time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while. There was supposed to be more in this chapter, but I also wanted to get this published before I lost inspiration cause then it might have been another month before this chapter was up and I don't want to make you wait that long. If anyone is still reading this I hope you enjoy. Your comments and kudos mean the world to me so thank you.

“And that’s why we are going to get married someday and have at least five children.” Roger finished, looking pleased with himself. They were sitting in his and Freddie's apartment, the bottle of cheap vodka and scrabble board totally ignored by this point in the night. 

“You mean to say,” Freddie was sitting on the couch, leaning on Brian, both of them sharing looks of equal confusion and dersion. “You got all that from him telling you it would be okay to ask you out again?”

“Yes.” Roger refused to back down, he knew John was the one for him and it was going to work out. 

“Roger,” Brian was rubbing at his temples. “Do you think, i don’t know, this might be a bad idea?”

“And you know all about bad ideas mr. I got a drink dumped on me.” Roger retorted, and Brian held up his hands.

“I’m just saying, we just found John, we need to make sure everything works out okay with him.”

“Yeah, roger, we don’t want to scare him off before the first gig.” Freddie joined in. Roger was disappointed, he thought he would be able to at least count on freddie to support him, the big fan of romance he was. 

“Who says I’m going to scare him off?” 

“It's just, what if it goes poorly and then he leaves the band and we’re stuck without a bassist again.” Brian was probably being sensible but Roger wasn’t in the mood to listen.

“But he likes me! He clearly likes me! So it will work out, it has to.”

“No one’s saying it won’t work out love, but on the off chance it doesn’t.” Roger had heard enough. He was about to head into his bedroom when Brian stopped him. 

“Just, how about this, you don’t sleep with him or ask him out till after the first gig, okay?” Roger stopped, considering.

“But after that?”

“After that you’re free to do as you like and have as many children as you want.” Freddie laughed, “I always knew you were a romantic at heart.”

“Fine, but after the gig, prepare yourselves because we are going to be disgustingly in love.”

“I can’t wait.” Brian said, dryly, as Ziggy finally decided to attack his hair and he was forced to let go of Freddie in favor of deflecting the cat. 

\--

JRD has been added to the group chat Queen Bitches

JRD’s nickname has been changed to Deacy

\--

John woke up and looked down at his phone, he was surprised to see 51 new notifications. He unlocked it and looked at the first one. Ah, he’d been added to the group chat as promised. And it was chaos. There were far too many cat gifs, and emoji for him to be looking at this early in the morning. So John turned to personal messages. He had one from an unknown number. 

_ Hey John, Roger here. Want to apologize in advance for giving Fred your number to add to the group chat. Had a great time the other night and looking forward to seeing you at practice on Tuesday. _

John couldn’t help but smile. He was looking forward to that practice after all. He was also looking forward to seeing if Roger would come up with a more creative way to ask him out. 

\--

It was raining in sheets and buckets, the kind of rain that made fall in London unpleasant and soaked into your socks, leaving them wet all day long. John was grateful as he made his way into the warm cafe, ready to dry out and work on some studying. He had midterms coming up in about a week and really needed to study. The shop was crowded, clearly a lot of other people wanted to get out of the rain as well and it took John a while to make it to the counter. 

A tall young man was at the register, and asked John what he would like, before John could answer Roger appeared, seemingly from nowhere and pushed the other man out of the way.

“I got this Tim,” Roger smiled at John who gave him a grin. The other man, Tim, rolled his eyes and stepped back, muttering something about not flirting with the customers.

“So, what do you want?” Roger was leaning forward and john thought he was batting his eyelashes. God he was cute. 

“Erm, something warm, you choose.” John usually enjoyed flirting with Roger but he was still cold and there were a lot of people in line behind him. Roger smirked.

“Okay, I’ll surprise you.” 

“How much do I owe you then?” John had already grabbed his wallet out to pay. 

“On the house,” Roger looked mischievous. The other man gave him slap

“You can’t keep giving free coffee to cute boys,” 

“I only give free coffee to this cute boy.” Rather than argue, something John knew was going to be futile, he dropped a couple of pound coins in the tips jar and went to sit down at the end of the counter. 

John got out his graphing notebook and began working on the physics problems. He was so absorbed he barely even noticed when Roger put a cup in front of him. Without thinking, he reached for it and took a sip. 

“Oww.” John winced

“You generally have to wait for it to cool down.” another student at the counter, a burly bloke with a tan that seemed unnatural for london this time of year laughed at John. 

“Sod off” In his mind, John replaced the object sliding down the 3 mile buidling with the bloke sitting next to him and enjoyed calculating the force at which it would impact the ground.

He waited and took another sip after a few minutes. It was good, not too sweet, but not too bitter. There was a hint of cinnamon and some vanilla. He looked up to say something to Roger but saw that the blonde was busy with some other customers. So John decided to get back to work.

It was quite a time later, John had lost track, when his notebook was slid out from in front of him. He looked up, ready to yell at the bloke next to him who’d tried to start conversations with him several times when he realized it was Roger. 

“Did you draw that bloke being crushed by a cube?” Roger was looking at the graph paper that John had added some illustrations to his problem.

“Yes, if you flip back a few pages, you’ll see what happens to him in a vacuum.” John retorted. “And if you go back further, you’ll see Brian sliding down a ramp.”

“Do you always put real people in your graphs for this?” Roger asked, flipping through a few more pages of the notebook.

“Yeah, helps me to put the problems in the real world. It’s kinda boring when it’s all about cubes and ramps and particles and whatever. Thats’ why I’m not a big fan of physics, it all just seems to be things in theory and stuff, give me a circuit board where I can put things into practice. Not a bunch of theories and math. I’d rather figure out what’s going on and mess up then do a shit ton of math and just think about it.” John realized he was on a rant now and he flushed. The coffee shop seemed to be much quieter now, the rain was still going strong outside but it was later and most people were probably at dinner. 

“Sorry, you probably didn’t want to hear all of that.” 

“No, it’s interesting. I wish I was as passionate about a subject as you are. I’m just studying biology because I quit dentistry and it seemed interesting.” Roger said handing the notebook back to John. 

“So, what’d you think of my creation?” Roger gestesterd to the empty coffee mug.

“It was good, sweet but really good. What do you call it?” John asked.

“A snickerdoodle latte.” 

“Well it was good. Might have to be my new order.”

“Don’t ever get it from anyone else, no one makes it the way I do.”

“Oh, and why’s that?”

“Because I add a special ingredient.”

“What’s that?”

“Love”

Both boys burst out in laughter. Roger unable to hold the sincere expression on his face.

“Anyways, my shift is done now, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” Roger said. John was only just now realizing that Roger had taken off his aperon and was standing on the same side of the counter as he was sitting. 

“Off early tonight?” John was a little disappointed. He’d been hoping to talk more with Roger He was also hoping that Roger was going to try to ask him out again. But he probably should focus on studying today. Especially if he had band practice tomorrow. 

“Yup, traditionally Wednesday nights are pizza and bitch about guys while watching trashy tv but Fred’s moved it up to tonight because he has a date on Wednesday.” 

“Sounds like fun.” John smiled.

“I mean,” Roger seemed to be thinking and he hesitated before going on, “you’re welcome to join us? It could be some fun band bonding?” 

“Oh thank you, but no, I have a lot of work to do.” John saw Rogers face fall and his eyes dim. “But, maybe some other time?” 

“Of course, have a good night.” Roger brightened and reached out a hand to squeeze John’s shoulder. John shuddered a bit at the warmth as it raced through his body. He didn’t need to react to an innocent shoulder touch like that. And John momentarily reconsidered Roger’s offer to join him. But no, he really shouldn’t. While he was caught up in his own head Roger had made his way to the door and was leaving. 

“Roger!”

“Yeah?” Roger turned back and looked, the lights silhouetting him against the rain outside and casting a warm glow over his almost angelic face. 

“I hope you’re working on that project we discussed last time I saw you.” John wasn’t sure if this was going to be clear enough of a hint but he didn’t want to go right out and say that he wanted to know if Roger was still planning on asking him out. 

“Oh yeah, we’ve run into some, complications with that. But don’t worry, I’m just ironing out the details, you’ll be swept off your feet by the final result.” and with that Roger winked and was out into the night. John sighed, trying to pull his attention back on his work and away from Roger’s cryptic words and his shoulder which was still tingling where Roger had touched it. 

\--

Practice was going well. Sure, Freddie had turned up late, and Brian was shooting glares at Roger every time he so much as said anything to John, but the music was sounding good. They all meshed really well together. Roger felt like he and John were meant to play together. Staying on the same beat and making their own parts of it was effortless. They were in total sync and Roger was pretty sure it was total proof the the soulmate theory he’d been working on. 

Brian was also sounding good and Freddie was on top of his game. They were ready to perform as far as Roger was concerned. And he was sure to let everyone know that. 

“I don’t know, I think we need a few more practices, Rog.” Brian had to admit they sounded good, but he wasn’t sure they were ready. 

“Why don’t we reach out to some of the pubs, see what the next few weeks look like?” Freddie suggested. Scrolling through his phone. It was now very late, and practice was over for the night. Roger was packing away the drums and Deacy was helping him. Brian still hadn’t put away the old lady and he had that thoughtful expression on that Roger knew meant he was getting too far into his own head. 

“I mean, I suppose I can.”

“Yeah, the sooner the better, I think.” not that Roger had any ulterior motives for wanting their gig to be soon. Brian glared at him, clearly not missing any of this. 

“Erm, could I make a request?” John looked up, his hair partially covering his face. He seemed quiet, Roger felt that John probably took a while to warm up to new people and he wasn’t entirely comfortable with Freddie and Brian quite yet. Roger hoped John wouldn’t feel uncomfortable in the future. 

“Of course Deacy!” Fred lept to his feet, ready to listen.

“Could we wait till after the 29th? I have an exam that day and I’ll need to study beforehand and such.” 

“Yeah that's fine. That gives us about two weeks.” Brian looked pleased, Roger was less pleased, this meant two weeks until he could as John out. But he didn’t want to pressure John so he agreed with Brian. 

“Sounds good. Now let’s get out of here. I think my bed is calling my name.” 

“Roger… Roger… Roger... “ Freddie sang in a wheezy voice, making them all laugh. As they walked out the door, Roger held it open for John, giving him a little bow as he passed. He then flicked off the switch. Two weeks, he could wait for two weeks. 


End file.
